3rd week
Moises: ”The Qanat Cistern System”
The project you presented, the Qanat system, is simply amazing. Only following the traces of the intervention was fascinating, the map was not able to say without your help…
As you were presenting I thought it would be really interesting if you could add some other variation on a similar prototype that can help us to understand the potential for it to be implemented in New Mexico. I know you brought the concept of the “acequias” and the “aqueduct”, but they are quite aerial projects.
I know it is not exactly the same kind of intervention, but the wells to get water for agriculture in Arizona set an interesting network that you could find revealing exploring.The first challenge in your proposal could be the complex system of land ownership that you would be required to address, and that without considering the enormous infrastructural effort implied. In this sense, only the security regulations for the workers will make really difficult such a project.So, I would say you have to challenge the regional specificities and offer a plus, more than the Iranian project was offering at its time of implementation.
Again it is a different project, but when A. Siza took a few years ago the idea of using an aqueduct in la Quinta de Malagueira, he was adding to the traditional ‘carrying water’ the delivery of other services. In addition to that, the aqueduct is the backbone of the intervention and a landmark for the city. Could a redefinition of the Qanat Cisterns offer a plus to your city?
Becky: “Architecture and Climate”
I really enjoyed your presentation; it was a great trip some decades back in the ‘residential American panorama’. I am still thinking if I could find in my country a similar case. Thanks for your insight!
In addition I will like to share with you some thoughts that came to my mind during your presentation.I am curious about how widely distributed were both magazines. When skimming the House Beautiful number you brought, I thought it was targeting a middle-upper class audience given the size and decoration of the houses. Maybe there were the examples in this number, but I wonder if the low-class could access to it.
As we discussed in class, I missed more graphics showing the incorporation of the immediate surroundings, it was not easy to read the site in the designs. This is a common practice for architects that respond with their buildings to their own obsessions, and not to the site they are intervening in.
The same, you could add more examples in which the active role of vegetation and water contributes to a better natural climatic control [I think there was no Landscape Architect in the magazine committee you presented us].
The discussion around the creation of an ‘American’ style out of climatic design was really interesting: as in many other aspects, to define a common feature to all the American Geography remains quite challenging, even more in climatic issues. Related to this or not, during your presentation I could not avoid thinking about the theory of the Critical Regionalism by K. Frampton and how this understanding of the vernacular in architecture keeps being a central issue not always addressed in our professional practise.
Abby: “Taking over the farm”
Great topic! You posted a challenging question about the role of this kind of farms in future; far more than being financially successful, I thought in the ways they should be redefined and marketed. Of course they offer a valuable set of issues related not only with production, but with education and other social assets.
I did enjoy your comment about urban parks and farming: I do believe it has a lot of potential. More than preserving the existing farms, this would address the opportunity to find areas available to implement new programs of this type. The question of scale is again important, which is the optimum acreage for them? In this scenario, other issues like the volunteer labour could be thought positively. I think our society will have to face an increasing amount of leisure time to be programmed [our lives span longer every time]; this kind of activities will be key to keep us active but without the 8 hour of work/day.
Other issue that came to my mind during your presentation was the utility of creating a network of existing farms of this type to reach a bigger community of potential users. How did you find the one you go to? Are they on the web? Maybe this network does exist already, if so, I encourage you to include it on your webpage.
We revisited other issues that are worth mentioning in your webpage: agriculture subsidies and tax system, the compatibility with other land uses, the marketability of the products …
2nd week
Amy: “Community Based Agriculture”
I enjoyed your presentation because you brought a new topic for me. I knew about projects dealing with agriculture or farming techniques being implemented in developing countries, about immigrants finding their niche in farms all over the world, but I knew nothing about programs of this kind for refugees. Thanks for that.
Of course, we discussed in class the limitations of this kind of programs in an increasingly urbanized world where everything is measured in terms of economic profitability.
Said that, I will focus in some issues I thought could be of help. First of all, I find interesting the concept of transition, and I will like to know more about the temporality of that transition for the refugees to spend in these farms. In addition, it would be interesting to know what other abilities they are trained in while they are following the program. Since farming is a production oriented activity, maybe other social issues take a less important role in their everyday activity. If so, that would be wrong.
Another issue that should be reconsidered is that, in some cases, they are forced to commute long distances to work everyday. This for sure isolates them from their close environment.I wonder if these projects are developed all over the North America or they are only placed in regions with bigger agricultural tradition. If the data is available, could you map or locate them?
And finally, after Abby’s presentation, do you see any possible connections or possibilities emerging from a new understanding of urban farming?
Sophie: “9 Mile Run and Ruhr Valley”
Opportunities to learn about the topics you brought to the class are really unique. In my opinion, these are examples of the main challenges that the post-industrial era places for us. Far from more theoretical debates, we have to be prepared to face the challenges of recovering the land in our professional practice.
The two projects are quite different in scale and scope, but they both offer important lessons. I would like to point out some issues regarding the German case that is the one I know better. I hope to be of help.
What is fascinating about Duisburg Park is that it only represents a small bit of the overall intervention called Emscher Park. I agree with you that the scale is huge, but perhaps, in order to compare two cases with more similarities you could have picked up some of the residential interventions close to brownfields that are part of the project.
Among the social aspects of the German case, one issue that is not that well known is the fact that Duisburg Park is widely contested by the close inhabitants. The history of the site is not one of happiness for the former workers and their families. So, the success of the intervention is seen with distrust for those who lost their job and have not been included in the new scenario.
The park includes also more natural areas that are being monitored and are not open to public. In these contaminated sites human intervention is kept minimal in order to evaluate natural succession of the species found there.
Zach – “Post Industrial Wilds”
Your images and maps were extremely useful to understand the scale of each intervention and a sense of the broader surroundings. The historical images added very interesting clues on the site, and the traces of the past. The fact that you chose two projects in Berlin was also interesting. This way we will be able to compare easily in the future how each of them evolves.
We broadly discussed the cultural issues of legacy and tradition; in this respect I would like to recommend you a beautiful piece of reading about the traces that human interventions have left in the land throughout history: “The land as a palimpsest”, by A. Corboz.
We also brought the role of art in these parks. This links your presentation with Sophie’s one: the art was widely used too in Emscher Park to attract the visits of more people to the somehow remote destinations proposed. In the case of the Ruhr Area, well known artists like Serra were commissioned important interventions, at the same time, young German artists were offered the possibility to exhibit their work by a minimal economic wage: that way the authorities kept the expenditure minimal, and the artists got the widest potential audience…I
share my interest with other bloggers about a further definition of the terms you introduced [Retrospective and Prospective nature]; they were really interesting. The same about your diagrams… It would be great to explore the differences between an accessible site for people and a non accessible one.
And finally, the million dollar question, how much design is needed?
About the case in NY… I am not sure…
Jay – “The Awareness of Nature in the City”
Your presentation was a very personal exploration about the Awareness of Nature in the City, issues of nativeness and attachment to the site. Perhaps due to the nature of the topics and the uniqueness of your presentation, one of our main issues was how to translate all your emotions into a web page…
The challenge remains for you on how to give structure to your exploration; here some thoughts. Try to structure the case using the possibilities of the webpage. One first suggestion would be to be clearer about your research topic and how do you plan to face it. Introduce the characters, be precise.
You could even start advancing some conclusions that could catch the interest of the reader. In this sense, to highlight the most important issues using text could help you to develop a narrative easy to follow by the audience.
About the actual content, I would encourage you to be more explicit about your own understanding of nativeness and how to transcend education. Do you have a plan for that? Tell us.
1st week
Shutsu: “Planning for Sustainable Cities”
The title of your presentation is a challenging one. First, I will invite you to create your own definition of sustainable city, set up the elements you consider important, and challenge other definitions.
Being said that I would encourage you to develop one chart comparing the features that you find more relevant when addressing both plans. What are they lacking? Are citizens involved? Are they stating where are the main difficulties they have to face? Are realistic defining objectives? Are these plans aim to attract international attention as part of a marketing game? How are public and private initiatives being targeted in each city?Do you find both websites targeted for the same kind of audiences [citizens, developers, planners, international investors, other cities,…?
I would challenge a little bit the plan for Portland, is there any room for improvement? Which are the weakest areas?
In addition, you could include more images to help giving a sense of the place, comparing the scale of both cities, the main urban features, densities and trends in housing and other economic activities.
Regarding the website, to reduce text to the maximum try to provide the links for further data for those interested, and offer a general summary of the key issues in the different areas.
Jase: “Urban material flow analysis”
Your presentation was really inductive; it was growing little by little. I was fascinated with some of the bits you showed, but I had also some difficulty to build something more overall consistent.
I must confess you that I have no idea about what you meant by “urban material flows” at the beginning of your presentation, a clear definition of that will be of help for people like me…
The potential of abstracting environmental data to be easily accessed by designers, planners and a broader audience is enormous. But in this wide availability remain also the limitations: how the data is interpreted? I would recommend you to start from the conclusion and state clearly the value of your findings and the potential of having all that data available for a diverse audience.
What is the lesson for you?Regarding the web page, how could you make it really interactive and show how to participate in the sharing/posting of information?
Justin: “Eco Suburbia, the case of village homes”
One of the issues I think you could address in your final conclusions is why this case remained isolated in the wide amount of examples we have about suburban developments given that it brought a good case to look at.
You talked about continuity and the future scenario this community is facing, and the maintenance of some of the features that made this community unique. I thought your reference to the kind of people that can allow buying a house here was key. One of my main concerns with suburban developments is always about social exclusion: the mix of housing does not guarantee the mix of social classes. I do not see this development targeting diversity among its objectives.
Other interested issue raised in the class was the sustainability of this kind of developments that rely on everyday commuting to work.
As other people mention in their blogs, scale is a key factor to ensure the success of this kind of developments with a very specific mission. And it is also important in determining the need of a planner/designer in addition to a well informed citizen.
In this sense, I would like to add another case study you might find revealing at some point in the way natural processes were considered in the design: The Woodlands by Ian McHarg et al. [http://www.thewoodlands.com].
Tran: “Restoration of Urban Waterways”
The first issue I would like to comment is the diversity of the cases study you brought to the class. I though the three cases were raising interesting issues; and I would like you to reinforce those differences from the very beginning. If they are aimed or not to bring nature to the city, the issues of maintenance, the agency of each project and the role of the public authorities are of relevance too.
It was very interesting the discussion about the Cultural vs Environmental role of these interventions, and the overall phasing of the projects.
Another interested issue mentioned was the need of improving the quality of the water and the challenges it represented for the cities.
As I mentioned to you in class, some of the measures under development for the Muddy River Restoration Plan could be of help to you. I hope you find useful some of the data from the city of Brookline and the Army Corps of Engineers that we shared. When I researched for that project last year I was surprised of all the difficulties a master plan has to face in terms of Environmental permissions, and how it affects the actual implementation of an urgently needed plan. In addition the case of the Emerald Necklace brings another interesting issue, the one of maintaining the original design when the environmental conditions of the surroundings have change; to restore, to rehabilitate, or non of them?
